HONG KONG, Nov. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The legendary Bill Shankly once said football is much more important than life and death. Countless fans of the sport continue to live by this motto. Among them is GALA Sports, a Chinese mobile game developer and a part of GALA Technology – the group which filed for initial public offering on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in September. In terms of revenue in 2021, GALA Sports is China's second-largest mobile sports game company, representing a market share of approximately 7.9%. As the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 draws near, GALA Sports believes its tech-driven "sports games for sports fans", including the recently published Total Football, could be a new way for everyone to enjoy even more.
High entry barriers of the mobile sports game subgenre
Whether it is to recreate and relive a victory over their team's rival, to orchestrate a sweet revenge over a recent loss, or just to have fun and do the impossible with their favourite stars on the field, it shouldn't surprise anyone that sports fans are often loyal supporters of different sports games. Yet, developing a game that can satisfy sports fans is no easy task. In fact, given fans' expectations over realistic graphic rendering, AI-backed ever-changing gameplay and the fluid portrayal of locomotion, mobile sports simulation games are believed to be among the most demanding subgenres for any game developer out there. After all, sports fans are unlikely to support a game if the graphics are so disappointing that they cannot recognize the stars they love. Neither will they support such a game if the controllable players do not act naturally or responsively. There is no need to bother playing the mobile game if every match is a let-down and nowhere near a real match.
A dedicated developer is here to challenge the status quo
For years, the highly demanding features of mobile sports games have complicated the market. On the one hand, because of the technical requirements, sports fans don't have too many meaningful choices despite the sparse number of developers in the field. On the other, due to the comparatively low threat from smaller developers, the handful of capable developers may not take their games seriously enough. It is not difficult to see users complaining about having to buy a certain sports game simply because there are no better alternatives. However, the time has changed. Having devoted almost a decade's efforts on developing mobile sports games, GALA Sports has announced its presence and offered a fresh alternative to sports fans around the globe - Total Football.
Understanding the specific demands and expectations of mobile sports games users, GALA Sports has launched its first-ever mobile sports action simulation game, Total Football, in July 2022. The impressively realistic visuals in Total Football reflect the innovations and technology of GALA Sports, including its self-developed engines for arena rendering, automatic 3D facial modeling, jersey textile fabric dynamics, and so on. Users should not be surprised when they see photo-level 3D graphics in the game. When it comes to making the gaming experience unique, GALA Sports resorted to its self-developed AI technology. On top of mimicking formations and strategies of a real-life sports team, the technology also included a stochastic model that could predict and mimic in-game the rapidly changing environment and real-time performance of the athletes. The AI technology would go so far as to have players' features come from the actual athletes' habits on the pitch. These features might be subtle, but a true fan would recognize for sure. And, to capture in-game locomotion and realize dribbling, heading and other actions, GALA Sports has an ancillary studio for the R&D team to capture sports players' motion and prepare 3D simulation accordingly. Combined with their physics engine, details ranging from the trajectory dynamics of the ball to the movements of the human body can all be realistically shown. More so, GALA Sports has obtained IP right licenses from player associations such as FIFPro, NBA and the NBPA, as well as clubs such as Juventus F.C., Manchester City F.C., Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain F.C. and F.C. Barcelona. These are essential for creating the ultra-realistic portrayal of real-life sports world to engage loyal sports fans.
At the end of the day, GALA Sports is a veteran with proven track-record in mobile sports games. Their earlier products, including Football Master, NBA Basketball Master and Football Master 2, first launched in the Chinese market, and have then successfully expanded to numerous overseas markets. In Vietnam, for instance, Football Master 2 and Football Master were ranked No.1 and No.2 in 2021 among football simulation games with IP rights licenses from FIFPro. Recently, by virtue of the seamless gameplay with sophisticated action animation, Total Football has even been featured and demonstrated on the display of the latest Apple iPad model. Fans of mobile sports games can finally expect something new and fun.
This is just the first step in the growing mobile sports simulation game market
The global market for mobile sports simulation games is expected to grow to USD 13.3 billion in 2026, and Total Football marks only a start for GALA Sports. "The growth potential of mobile sports games has just begun to show, and it is nowhere near what the subgenre can become," says Huang Xiang, Chief Technology Officer of GALA Sports. "Our target is to boost our R&D capabilities further so that we can deliver even better performance and gaming experience on mobile devices. Total Football is a breakthrough for us, but it's only the beginning. We are working on three new mobile sports games that focus on basketball, baseball, and American football, respectively. Our goal is to have each new product reach a higher level than the previous one. We target to become a global industry leader when it comes to mobile sports games, and we are positive that our passion for sports and mobile games will lead us there."
About GALA Sports
In 2013, GALA Sports was founded in Shenzhen, China, by a team of sports and technology enthusiasts who want to bring great gaming experiences to sports fans. GALA Sports have developed and launched several mobile sports games to the Chinese and Overseas markets, including Football Master, NBA Basketball Master, Football Master 2, and Total Football.
GALA Sports is a part of GALA Technology Holding Limited, which has submitted an application for an initial public offering on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
For more, please visit: http://www.galasports.net/EN/
